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101 in 1,001 Wednesday June 1, 2005, 5 comments

I’ve recently run across the “101 in 1,001” meme on dozens of blogs all over the place. It struck me as a really fascinating idea, so I’ve set out to create my own list. Yeah, maybe I’m jumping on a bandwagon, but sometimes the bandwagon is so good you just can’t help it.

I won’t go out of my way to create a new entry every time I accomplish something on the list, but I will every once in a while post that I’ve accomplished a number of things on the list.

Apparently the big day is Wednesday, February 27, 2008. As soon as I figure out how to add a countdown timer to this in textpattern, there will be a friendly reminder of how much time I have left.

The Mission:

Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:

Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

Body

1 – Take a yoga class and stick with it for at least three weeks.
2 – Go 21 days without eating food that wasn’t prepared by me.
3 – Take up a martial art and stick with it for at least three weeks.
4 – Weight between 170 and 175 pounds for at least three months.
5 – Do 100 push-ups in one session.
6 – Get a tattoo.
7 – Do 100 crunches in one session.
8 – Cycle 1000km in 10 consecutive days.
9 – Stop drinking coffee for seven consecutive days without being cranky.
10 – Consume nothing but water for 24 consecutive hours.
11 – Run 10km in one session.
12 – Stop consuming dairy for seven consecutive days.
13 – Have a pedicure.
14 – Bleach my hair blonde.

Mind

15 – Take a digital photography course.
16 – Take a philosophy course.
17 – Take a vegetarian cooking class.
18 – Read War and Peace.
19 – Read the Koran cover-to-cover.
20 – Read the Bible cover-to-cover
21 – Write a fictional story and publish it online.
22 – Build a homemade telescope.
23 – Avoid watching television for 14 consecutive days.
24 – Practice handwriting till I find a hand I like, then use it consistently ever after.
25 – Find a picture of myself I like, frame it and hang it.
26 – Avoid swearing for one day without getting cranky about it.
27 – Create a new email address and use it as my principle account.
28 – Have a dinner that costs more than $200.
29 – Have a dinner that costs less than $2.Soup: $0.45, Two pieces toast: $0.48. Dinner for 93 cents. – August 22, 2005
30 – Spend a week without using a computer.
31 – Spend 6 hours in the AGO.
32 – Wake up at 6:00am every day for seven consecutive days without going to bed before 11:30pm.

Soul

33 – Visit the graves of my three dead grandparents.
34 – Give a flower to a random person on the street.
35 – Make a new friend.
36 – Put $5 into a jar every day for a calendar year and give total to a charity.
37 – Learn to say “Thank you for making the world a better place” in 10 non-english languages.
38 – Work 10 hours in the local food bank.
39 – Pay for the order of the person behind me in the Tim Horton’s drive-thru.
40 – Find ten good things to say about George W. Bush.
41 – Create an indoor zen garden at least 4 square feet in area.
42 – Make a new enemy.

Joy

43 – Have dinner with a Muslim and a Jew.
44 – Visit a Buddhist temple.
45 – Stay up all night and watch the sunrise.
46 – Rip all my CDs and then pack them away.
47 – Keep an active sketchbook for three consecutive months.
48 – Paint a painting.
49 – Go to a firing range and shoot a handgun.
50 – Watch all three Godfather movies.
51 – Learn to make five fancy alcoholic drinks, of which at least two require a blender.
52 – Go on a proper picnic, complete with gingham picnic cloth, picnic basket and ants.
53 – Climb a tall tree.
54 – Have one of my websites slashdotted.
55 – Buy “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” on DVD, and watch it at least once without being interrupted.
56 – Play a correspondence chess game and win.
57 – Have an aquarium and keep the fish alive for at least 6 months.
58 – Go to a Toronto Maple Leaf’s hockey game.
59 – Have a real pen pal I’ve never met before, with real paper letters (not email).
60 – Bake a blueberry pie with fresh blueberries.
61 – Find an after-hours club in my city and attend.
62 – Juggle four objects for at least 5 minutes without dropping any of them.
63 – Meet a girl named “Gwen” and buy her a drink.

Music

70 – Record an original song and publish it online.
71 – Play a gig in which at least 50% of the songs are original music.Last Wednesday night was really slow. We played two covers and 12 originals. – August 23, 2005
72 – Busk with a complete stranger for at least an hour, but leave all the money for them.
73 – Practice bass scales for an hour a day for seven consecutive days.
74 – Attend Hillside.
75 – Build a fretless bass.
76 – Build a matching fretted bass.
77 – Learn Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue flawlessly on piano.
78 – Play six gigs in six consecutive nights.

Money

79 – Zero my VISA balance and keep it that way for three consecutive months.
80 – Put $5 into a jar every day for a calendar year and use the total to spoil myself.
81 – Draft my will.
82 – Buy at least one share in Apple.

Stuff

83 – Finally get around to getting a passport.
84 – Get a cool black leather jacket. Christmas 2005. Is anything cooler than black leather?
85 – Replace my nine year old Ray-Ban sunglasses (harder than you’d think). bought new Rayban sunglasses (polarized!) – June 24, 2005
86 – Buy at least 5 really interesting antique keys.
87 – Sell something I love.- my Contessa 26!
88 – Buy a TerraTrike TTS.
89 – Throw out 20 things I haven’t used in the last six months.
90 – Buy a dSLR.
91 – Throw out five things I’ve owned for more than five years (that weren’t involved in any other list item).
92 – Buy an expensive bottle of Single Malt.
93 – Buy an original piece of art and hang it on a wall.

Life

94 – Visit New York City for at least 48 hours.
95 – Visit Montreal for at least 48 hours.
96 – Spend a night at anchor (not in port) alone in my boat.
97 – Cycle and camp across Canada from Pacific to Atlantic.
98 – Skydive.
99 – Dip my toes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the same week.
100 – Circumnavigate Lake Ontario solo on my sailboat.
101 – See the Aurora Borealis from Baffin Island.

And that’s the list. I know of dozens of other bloggers who are doing this, but that’s no reason you shouldn’t.

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“It is typical of the West to see the surface of a problem, and then rush headlong to proselytize the masses via a marketing campaign based on a poorly conceived, barely researched solution.”- Adrian Lebar

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